Menards 20% off BAG sale this week to Jan 6th, B&M only. Their brown bag is in Sunday's newspapers. 20% off applies to sale priced items as well so a great deal for smaller expensive stuff such as plumbing, electrical, tools, locks and hardware.

Are bags available at the store entrance? My local Sunday paper did not have a bag.

ach1199

Senior Member - 2K

posted: Dec. 30, 2012 @ 6:19p

busnut said: Are bags available at the store entrance? My local Sunday paper did not have a bag.

The bags are not available in the store. May be it's regional only? I saw their bags in Chicago Tribune ad papers.

UnDefenant

Loyal Member

posted: Dec. 30, 2012 @ 6:29p

The bags were sent out in the "Twin Cities Values" circular that is sent out on the weekends in the Twin Cities area - Minneapolis more specifically for me. So I can confirm it's not just the Chicago area.

BigDave

Cranky Member

posted: Jan. 1, 2013 @ 2:19p

Bags ARE being provided at the Columbus, Ohio store.

Thanks OP!!

MrLateNite

Senior Member - 2K

posted: Jan. 2, 2013 @ 12:54p

BigDave said: Bags ARE being provided at the Columbus, Ohio store.

Thanks OP!!

Lucky you. Here in ND and MN, they're X-ing out the bag or tearing them in half after use; NONE available in store.

Not that they have anything on rebate that can make you money stacking with the bag like they used to let you do 5 years ago. In fact almost nothing in the current sale flyer is small enough to fit in the bag (that has a good enough price anyway). Clearly pre-planned intentional non-stacking; vs. their old way of whatever goes and let you walk out making money.

MrLateNite

Senior Member - 2K

posted: Jan. 4, 2013 @ 8:57a

Good news, there will be a new ad coming out on Sunday (available Saturday at many stores and apparently as early as today at a couple stores) that has some smaller items and REBATE items that could be stacked with the current 20% bag sale! You can even MAKE MONEY with some of them. Far cry from what it used to be but still nice to see some stackability here:

Thanks OP. I didn't know about the bag. I asked at the customer service desk and they gave me one. I ended up paying $38 including tax for a sander (normally $70 plus tax) after using the bag and a rebate check from last month.

sixt7gt350

Senior Member

posted: Jan. 5, 2013 @ 8:24a

Bag was in the local paper and it said on the bag it could be re-used until the end of the sale.Well, my cashier took the bag and tore it up.After I got home, I saw she also "turned off" the 20% bag discount before she finished scanning items that WERE in the bag.(had 4 items not in the bag, knowing they'd not be discounted)

Menards rebate turn-around times are slowing down, also.Are we witnessing the beginning of the end for the last bastion of great deals and decent customer service?

MrLateNite

Senior Member - 2K

posted: Jan. 5, 2013 @ 1:09p

sixt7gt350 said: Bag was in the local paper and it said on the bag it could be re-used until the end of the sale.Well, my cashier took the bag and tore it up.After I got home, I saw she also "turned off" the 20% bag discount before she finished scanning items that WERE in the bag.(had 4 items not in the bag, knowing they'd not be discounted)

Menards rebate turn-around times are slowing down, also.Are we witnessing the beginning of the end for the last bastion of great deals and decent customer service?

Actually it does not state that a bag can be reused. It states that it MUST BE SURRENDERED at the checkout. It's up to you to find another bag if you want to shop again (e.g purchase another paper with one in them). Most stores are following corporate policy and X-ing out or tearing up the bags. Only a handful seem to be recycling them for new customers at the service counter or front entrance.

Menards deals have gotten much stingier in the last 5 years, especially within the last year. A lot less stacking (thus todays minor stacking ability was a surprise) and significantly higher rebate amounts ($50 rebates for many items under $100). Yes their rebate processing have gone from as FAST as 1 WEEK back in 2000 to about 3-4 weeks the last few years, and now up to about 5 weeks. They just changed from a maximum of 5 items per card to about 13 items, so they hold them longer to wait for you to send more in to save them postage mailing out cards.

I am still glad that they allow you to send multiple rebates for different products in one envelope saving a lot of stamps. The day they change that, is the day I will almost buy nothing on rebate there. Also their recent change in the last year to treat rebate checks as manufacturer coupons vs. cash payment (deducting prior to calculating tax vs. accepting as payment) saves you your local tax rate which helps.

Menards has never been known for the most knowledgeable people or consumer friendly policies: E.g. their official pricing policy is that if an expired sale tag is up, then they won't honor it -- the computer price holds, because they disclaim that it has an expiration date on the tag/sign. However, since many states have pricing laws most of their stores bend this policy. However most of the time they seem to try. But that doesn't change the fact they do really dumb things like this bag sale stuff, providing very limited access to the sale to only those purchasing the papers, yet bending it at a handful of stores.

Also more and more of their products are switching from regular brand names to their instore ones (ToolShop, MasterForce, Performaxx, etc...) with lowering quality associated with them. More and more of the store is becomming Harbor Freight quality items. But at least the name brands they do still carry are much cheaper than Lowes/Home Depot on the identical items.

lindseyup67

Member

posted: Jan. 6, 2013 @ 7:56a

MrLateNite said: sixt7gt350 said: Bag was in the local paper and it said on the bag it could be re-used until the end of the sale.Well, my cashier took the bag and tore it up.After I got home, I saw she also "turned off" the 20% bag discount before she finished scanning items that WERE in the bag.(had 4 items not in the bag, knowing they'd not be discounted)

Menards rebate turn-around times are slowing down, also.Are we witnessing the beginning of the end for the last bastion of great deals and decent customer service?

Actually it does not state that a bag can be reused. It states that it MUST BE SURRENDERED at the checkout. It's up to you to find another bag if you want to shop again (e.g purchase another paper with one in them). Most stores are following corporate policy and X-ing out or tearing up the bags. Only a handful seem to be recycling them for new customers at the service counter or front entrance.

Menards deals have gotten much stingier in the last 5 years, especially within the last year. A lot less stacking (thus todays minor stacking ability was a surprise) and significantly higher rebate amounts ($50 rebates for many items under $100). Yes their rebate processing have gone from as FAST as 1 WEEK back in 2000 to about 3-4 weeks the last few years, and now up to about 5 weeks. They just changed from a maximum of 5 items per card to about 13 items, so they hold them longer to wait for you to send more in to save them postage mailing out cards.

I am still glad that they allow you to send multiple rebates for different products in one envelope saving a lot of stamps. The day they change that, is the day I will almost buy nothing on rebate there. Also their recent change in the last year to treat rebate checks as manufacturer coupons vs. cash payment (deducting prior to calculating tax vs. accepting as payment) saves you your local tax rate which helps.

Menards has never been known for the most knowledgeable people or consumer friendly policies: E.g. their official pricing policy is that if an expired sale tag is up, then they won't honor it -- the computer price holds, because they disclaim that it has an expiration date on the tag/sign. However, since many states have pricing laws most of their stores bend this policy. However most of the time they seem to try. But that doesn't change the fact they do really dumb things like this bag sale stuff, providing very limited access to the sale to only those purchasing the papers, yet bending it at a handful of stores.

Also more and more of their products are switching from regular brand names to their instore ones (ToolShop, MasterForce, Performaxx, etc...) with lowering quality associated with them. More and more of the store is becomming Harbor Freight quality items. But at least the name brands they do still carry are much cheaper than Lowes/Home Depot on the identical items.

lindseyup67

Member

posted: Jan. 6, 2013 @ 7:59a

Not sure where u got your info, but their "offical pricing policy" is NOT to not honor an old sale sign left up. They absolutely should honor it.....they even have a reason key explaining the price adjustment as "expired sale sign/bin tag". Also, Masterforce is a cheaper brand, but there are not a whole lot of problems with the products....I know this firsthand, and own many.

MrLateNite

Senior Member - 2K

posted: Jan. 6, 2013 @ 9:39a

lindseyup67 said: Not sure where u got your info, but their "offical pricing policy" is NOT to not honor an old sale sign left up. They absolutely should honor it.....they even have a reason key explaining the price adjustment as "expired sale sign/bin tag".

That is exactly what I said above:...their official pricing policy is that if an expired sale tag is up, then they won't honor it -- the computer price holds, because they disclaim that it has an expiration date on the tag/sign. However, since many states have pricing laws most of their stores bend this policy.

You will see this explained on a sign over by their C/S counter, and a shorter version on the bottom of every 8x11 sign saying something like "if this sign is up past the expiration date 'ignore the price'". Of course, most states do not allow this legalese and you'll find that they do a manual adjustment. They just have it their to discourage people from complaining.

sixt7gt350

Senior Member

posted: Jan. 6, 2013 @ 9:53a

MrLateNite said: Actually it does not state that a bag can be reused. It states that it MUST BE SURRENDERED at the checkout. It's up to you to find another bag if you want to shop again (e.g purchase another paper with one in them). Most stores are following corporate policy and X-ing out or tearing up the bags. Only a handful seem to be recycling them for new customers at the service counter or front entrance.

Menards deals have gotten much stingier in the last 5 years, especially within the last year. A lot less stacking (thus todays minor stacking ability was a surprise) and significantly higher rebate amounts ($50 rebates for many items under $100). Yes their rebate processing have gone from as FAST as 1 WEEK back in 2000 to about 3-4 weeks the last few years, and now up to about 5 weeks. They just changed from a maximum of 5 items per card to about 13 items, so they hold them longer to wait for you to send more in to save them postage mailing out cards.

I am still glad that they allow you to send multiple rebates for different products in one envelope saving a lot of stamps. The day they change that, is the day I will almost buy nothing on rebate there. Also their recent change in the last year to treat rebate checks as manufacturer coupons vs. cash payment (deducting prior to calculating tax vs. accepting as payment) saves you your local tax rate which helps.

Menards has never been known for the most knowledgeable people or consumer friendly policies: E.g. their official pricing policy is that if an expired sale tag is up, then they won't honor it -- the computer price holds, because they disclaim that it has an expiration date on the tag/sign. However, since many states have pricing laws most of their stores bend this policy. However most of the time they seem to try. But that doesn't change the fact they do really dumb things like this bag sale stuff, providing very limited access to the sale to only those purchasing the papers, yet bending it at a handful of stores.

Also more and more of their products are switching from regular brand names to their instore ones (ToolShop, MasterForce, Performaxx, etc...) with lowering quality associated with them. More and more of the store is becomming Harbor Freight quality items. But at least the name brands they do still carry are much cheaper than Lowes/Home Depot on the identical items.

This has always been the standard, but I was pretty confident I read on the bag it could be re-used.I could have been wrong, but I always read the fine print on bag sales for exclusions and restrictions.

I doubt changing the rebate cards from landscape to portrait was directly related to turn-around time.Quite simply, they save postage. Most rebaters submitted enough for two or three cards, so Menards found a way to put them all on one.Allowing one envelope for multiple submissions is certainly one huge leg Menards has up on EVERYBODY else.The easiest rebates to submit are Rural King and Staples, where I simply go online to enter the receipt information and their computers do the rest. Rural King turn-around time needs improved, however.

As for Master Force, some of them are upper-mid quality, US-made hand tools. ToolShop is almost guaranteed to be the cheapest Chinese-made crap available. -I only consider them for "disposable" purposes.Menards still carries Bosch power tools, which are what I have found to be the best consumer-grade.For drill and driver bits, I've have found only Menards carries Montana brand. -Top quality, US-made bits.Menards construction lumber is usually crap, but a bit of time sorting through can save you money.

Funny you mentioned Harbor Freight. Closest one to me is 50 miles. I was near for in-law Christmas and stopped in, bought a couple items.In Menards for the bag sale, I saw the same items for the same or less. (would have been even better in the 20% bag)Rarely can I beat Menards on price, that includes Wall-e World and Big Lots. Only Rural King beats them with any regularity, then just for specific items. -Rural King is closer to Harbor Freight with the amount of Chinese junk.

edit: Customer service is hit and miss. It all depends on the employee and store.Home Depot has always been the worst for me, but somebody must have rallied the troops, because I was overwhelmed yesterday with every employee seeing me offering to help.

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